


Memory in Boxes

by mikawritesthings



Category: Rusty Lake | Cube Escape (Video Games), The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Dream Logic, Gen, Timeline What Timeline, To An Extent, Vague Symbolism, as per usual, mr owl being a bastard, that's just how Rusty Lake rolls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24165448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikawritesthings/pseuds/mikawritesthings
Summary: Jonathan Sims finds himself on a very particular couch.
Relationships: Mr Owl & Mr Crow
Comments: 17
Kudos: 33





	Memory in Boxes

**Author's Note:**

> This crossover kinda had to happen. I might be characterizing Jon a *bit* differently, but eh.

[LOUD, DISTORTED FEEDBACK]

[DISTANT MUSIC]

ARCHIVIST

What the… Where… Where am I?

VOICE

Why don’t you see for yourself?

ARCHIVIST

[YELPS IN SURPRISE]

VOICE

It’s good to meet you, Mr. Sims. Are you quite comfortable? I know entering a memory can be...disorienting, at first.

ARCHIVIST

You’re an owl.

VOICE

Indeed. I’d prefer the title of “Mr. Owl,” at the moment. Though I suppose your patron might tell you that “Jakob Eilander” is more appropriate for recording purposes. Speaking of, there’s no need to bring out your own tape recorder; I’ve already got one running.

ARCHIVIST

Is… is this a therapy session?

MR. OWL

If you weren’t affiliated with the Ceaseless Watcher, it would be. However, you’ll likely want to know as much about me as I do about you. So consider this more of an… exchange.

Shall I go first? Your questions must be a bit more pressing. Go ahead and give your introduction.

ARCHIVIST

Statement of Jakob Eilander, regarding… an exchange. Original statement given, er… 

MR. OWL

Whenever it is for _you._

ARCHIVIST

Statement taken directly from subject, 31st March, 2018. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, the Archivist. 

Statement begins.

MR. OWL

Tell me, Mr. Sims. How much do you know about Rusty Lake?

ARCHIVIST

Er… Rusty Lake Mental Health and Fishing. Something of a therapeutic retreat destination, on the shores of the Rusty Lake in… the Netherlands?

MR. OWL

Very good. It seems Mr. Bouchard has trained you well. We take patients in, and examine, dissect, and analyze the various vignettes of their memories. Memory is a flimsy thing without the tools to properly see it. Your method at the Magnus Institute seems to extract the cold, hard facts of what the subject has seen and done, to shape it into a vivid, accurate statement. We, meanwhile, are more concerned with the _emotions_ and _images_ of the memory: how it has been distorted and reshaped to the logic of the subject’s mind. The past lives on in the human consciousness. Never dead, Mr. Sims. Not even past.

But keep in mind that we’re not exactly affiliated with the Eye. It’s not information we look for in our patients; rather, it’s bits and pieces of their past lives. I never was one to align myself with Robert Smirke’s Entities; the man hadn’t even been born yet in my time. My family considered themselves devotees of the lake itself. Still, you could say their leanings were square in the wheelhouse of the Hunt. As for my colleague Mr. Crow… I believe he and his family have a rather… _interesting_ relationship to the End.

When I extract memories from our patients, it indeed takes the form of a therapy session. I’m sure you’ve learned that trauma is stored rather differently in the mind than are other recollections. A scarring or frightening past has a much deeper impact upon the present than a more mundane one. Thus, it makes all the more difference when you _change_ them.

[DISTORTED, HIGH-PITCHED TONE]

ARCHIVIST

[NOISE OF SURPRISE]

That’s a cube.

MR. OWL

[WITH A HINT OF AMUSEMENT] A _black_ cube.

ARCHIVIST

Is it… supposed to represent a memory?

MR. OWL

Something like that. It’s simpler to navigate the setting of a particular moment in your life if you can picture it holding a regular shape. But what I have here is a bit more of a visual aid. If I were you, I’d take another look at our surroundings.

ARCHIVIST

A file cabinet… an old couch… someone’s desk… no, _my_ desk. This is the archive. But, but not entirely; the archives aren’t exactly a perfectly square room. [SIGH] And they certainly don’t have _that_ wallpaper.

So this is one of _my_ memories. Which one, though?

[SOUND OF DOOR CREAKING OPEN]

ARCHIVIST

The other room, that’s-- Martin? Oh, for God’s sake, Martin, put on some trousers f--

Oh. [VERY QUIET GROAN] _This_ one.

Right, I guess that answers _that_ question. I just still don’t understand why you’d need this memory. Or… my memories in general. I doubt you could change them, at this point.

MR. OWL

 _Change_ them? No. Your mind itself is something like an archive, so there’s not much we can do therapeutically. However, your memories are _invaluable_ to the Lake. [CHUCKLES] I doubt Jonah would have let me hear the end of this one.

[MUSIC CHANGES]

MR. OWL

Just two more things before you go. These are for more symbolic purposes than anything else, but please do humor me. If you could open that drawer to your left.

[SOUND OF A DRAWER BEING RELUCTANTLY OPENED]

ARCHIVIST

A hand mirror? I don’t see what-- Oh.

Oh, that’s _new._

MR. OWL

Do tell me what you see.

ARCHIVIST

I see my silhouette, the shape of a head and shoulders with only a pitch-black void within. There are two white lights where my eyes should be… and a few others where my eyes _shouldn’t_.

MR. OWL

Very poetic. 

And one last, Mr. Sims. Keep in mind that we _are_ in a memory, so your actions here won’t entirely correspond to what happens in reality. Like I said, this final task is a bit more symbolic.

Aldous, could you do the honors?

[MUSIC GROWS MUFFLED]

[CROW CAWING]

ARCHIVIST

Are you Mister Crow, then?

MR. CROW

That I am.

ARCHIVIST

You’re handing me a knife. I… What am I supposed to… 

MR. OWL

The truth is, Mr. Sims, that if we are to ever meet in the more _material_ world, I have no doubt that you’d see me as a competitor. An enemy, even. Therefore, I think it’s wise to demonstrate the inevitable outcome.

At least, I’d like to see you _try._

MR. CROW

You know what to do.

ARCHIVIST

I know what to do.

[RECORDER ABRUPTLY SHUTS OFF]


End file.
